Lamp-holder assembly



Marcl 124, 1942. c, WELC H 2,277,468

LAMPHOLDER ASSEMBLY Filed Jan. 4, 1940 Fig.1.

Invenfiof: Ralph C. Welch,

His Attorneg,

h solder.

terior N3 of an insulating casing IQ of rubber, or the like. .In order to hold the assembled lamp Patented Mar. 24, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

, LAMP-HOLDER ASSEMBLY Ralph C. Welch,-Devon, Conn., assignor .to General Electric Companma corporation of New York Application January 4, 1940, Serial No. 312,400

1 Claim.

sectional view along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; Fig.

5 is a perspective view, partly in section, of a portion of the lampholder; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the lampholder and mounting means, and Fig. 7 is another sectional view thru the lampholder at right angles to the showing of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 illustrates a refrigerator cabinet ID with a light H for 11- luminating the interior of the refrigerator. The light I l is supported by a lampholder and mounting means assembled together and constructed in accordance with my invention. Such assemblies should be of small size in order to-reduce the amount of space taken up within the refrigerator cabinet and of shatter-proof construction so as not to be damaged by heavy or sharp objects placed within the refrigerator. In addition, the lampholder should be of waterproof construction and the connection to the conducting wires should likewise be capable of resisting moisture which. is normally present in the interior of a refrigerator.

' on which the lampholder is frictionally secured in position.

Referring to Fig. 3 of, the drawing, my lampho'lder includes a threaded screw shell [3 having an insulating disk It at the bottom of the shell for the reception of a center contact I5, the cen ter contact and screw shell forming socket means for the reception of the light -H. The center fcontact' I5 and. screw shell. I3 are connected to conductors l6 and II, respectively, of a lamp cord. by any suitable fastening means, such as This assembly is placed within the. in-

receptacle and-"conductor securely in position the rubber casing is made resilient so that it closely and frictionally engages these elements. This prevents the infiltration of moisture to a point where it may corrode or damage the connections between the conductors and receptacle elements or cause short circuits. By making the casing of resilient material the lampholder is not subject to breakage or damage by contact with heavy objects within the refrigerator. In order to prevent rotation of the screw shell as a lamp is threaded therein, the bottom of the shell adjacent the disk I 4 is slotted to provide, in efl'ect, abutment surfaces 13* formed by projections l8 extending from the body of the shell into recesses IS! in the bottom of the casing, the latter being formed by spaced projections l9 and the wall of the shell. The abutment surfaces l3" engage the projections l9, as shown by Fig. 7. The disk l4 rests on the projections l9b which are spaced apart to form a channel [90 for receiving the center contact and the conductors.

In order to seal the entrance of the conductors into the interior of the casing IS, the latter is provided with an extending neck portion 20 of relatively heavy cross-section, the neck portion being provided with an opening 2l'merging with channel IS, the opening being divided by a rib 23 and with one or more transverse ridges 24. Inasmuch as the conducting wires 1 6 and I1 form the parallel wires of a rubber insulated conductor, they seat themselves within the opening 2|, so that the rib 23 is disposed in the groove in the conductor between the parallel wires while, at the same time, the transverse ribs 24 closely engage the-outer rubber covering of the conductors and, together with the rib 23, make an efiective and water-tight joint between the casing l9 and the conductors. The ribs 23 and 24 are held in engagement firmly with the conductors by interior of the lampholder through the opening lamp holderthus"1'ar ,described is disclosed and i claimed' in my copending application for Lamp and resiliently held in close engagement with j the outer coverings of the conductors. I This construction has been found very effective in preventing the entry of moisture or waterv into the formed by'the connection with the electric feed wires. Insome cases, a conductor having a smooth Jacket may .belemployedz this means that the rib 23 and ridges ,2l may be omitted. The

holders, Serial No.5 $12,321, filedSeptember 25,

1941 and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application.

Between the neck portion 20 and the body portion of the lampholder a groove 25 is formed which extends on two sides of the periphery of the lampholder casing for the reception of a holding means or mounting bracket 26. This bracket is of angular formation having arms 21 quickly mount the lampholder in position simply go by forcing it over the bifurcated arm 21 into the position shown by Fig. 2. This makes for speed of assembly.

The other end of the bracket 26' is formed with a flanged opening 3| for receiving the conductors 25 i6 and I1 and with a second opening 32 for the reception of any suitable fastening means, such as the screw 33. The flange of the opening 3! may be seated within a recess in the wall and,

together with the screw 33, forms an effective so When in mounted position the neck portion 20 of the lampholder is located in the space defined by the arms of the bracket 28 in such a manner.

that the conductors l6 and i1 may be led directly through the opening 3| in the bracketto the exterior of the cabinet wall. This reduces the space occupied by the lampholder.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

In an assembly for mounting a iampholder on a wall, a bracket having angularly extending arms, one of said arms being bifurcated to form spaced clamping jaws extending outwardly from the wall, the other arm lying parallel with the wall and being provided with an opening for a fastening means and a flanged opening for receiving a conductor and serving as a bushing therefor, a lampholder having socket means connected to the conductor and provided with a casing of resilient insulating material fbr engaging said clamping jaws whereby said lampholder is resiliently held in the space formed by the bifurcated jaws, the flange of the flanged opening being adapted to be received in the wall to prevent rotation of the bracket.

" RALPH C. WELCH. 

